Savvy B2B marketers are using banner ads as a key tactic in integrated marketing programs. No longer a simple visual billboard on a website, rich-media banner ads have become sophisticated components of marketing campaigns, often following the targeted user through their buying journey on the web.
According to eMarketer, digital display ad spending in 2016 will eclipse search ad spending in the US for the first time, with banner ads leading the way. There’s a reason for this: banner ads are versatile and effective. In addition, site publishers and your media partners have the skills and experience to help you establish, execute and measure banner ad campaigns that help you achieve your marketing goals.
Here are five best practices to incorporate into your banner ad marketing efforts.
1. Establish Objectives and Measurements Up Front
As with any marketing program, a successful banner ad campaign starts by defining your objectives. Is this campaign intended to build brand awareness? Generate sales leads? Demonstrate thought leadership? A solid understanding of your goals and objectives will drive every other decision in your campaign, including those that follow.
One of the benefits of banner ads is that it’s easy to measure results. The metrics that matter most—and that your media partner should provide—are ad impressions, ad clicks and click-through rate. If branding is your goal, you want to maximize ad impressions. If you are looking to generate sales leads, you need to place the ads where your target customers will see them and include a call to action that will attract their clicks.
2. Include a Compelling Call-to-Action
Your banner ad must offer something of value to your audience in order to gain and keep their attention. The value is represented in your call to action, which will entice prospects to click. “Download the white paper.” “Click for a free product sample.” “Watch a product demo.” “Attend the webinar.” “Request the infographic.” These are all examples of decisive calls-to-action that offer something of value to your target audience. Make sure your call to action is highly visible. Use a button to capture attention. It’s also effective to place the call to action on every frame of an animated banner.
3. Design your Ad to Align with Objectives
Your marketing objective drives banner ad design. If your goal is increased awareness of your brand in the market, your ad might prominently feature your company’s logo and colors, and perhaps a branding tag line—a visual and language treatment your audience will regularly see. If your call-to-action is high value content place an image of the in the banner ad and show users what they are getting. If you’re promoting a product, include a crisp photo of it.
There isn’t a lot of room for copy on banner ads. A benefit-oriented headline, a bullet point or two, and a compelling call to action—that’s all you really need. But just because the copy is short doesn’t mean it’s easy to produce. In fact, it’s more challenging because every word is so important. Hire a writer or leverage the skills of your media partners for help.
4. Place Your Ads in the Places They Can Be Most Effective
Ads can be purchased through a network to appear on many sites, or they can be placed with a specific site in either a run-of-site rotation or in a targeted area.
When you invest in run-of-site ads, your banner can appear on almost any page on a website—an excellent way to build your brand. The key is to buy ad space on a site that is relevant to and receives a lot of traffic from your target audience. With run-of-site ads you gain broader exposure to your audience. You also tend to connect with your audience in the early stages of their research and purchase cycle, when they are visiting many pages and gathering information to compare suppliers. Broader exposure for your banner in these cases will increase recognition and action.
When you know your target audience, placing an ad in a targeted section is a solid strategy. Place ads around content focused on the types of products or services you are selling. If traffic in that area is lower than you’d like, placing ads around content focused on products and services that are complementary to yours can expand your reach without casting too wide of a net.
5. Take the Next Step with Retargeting
We’ve all experienced retargeting. It’s when you visit a site such as Zappos and look at some shoes but don’t buy, and then you see ads from Zappos for those shoes when you’re on other websites and social media. Zappos is retargeting you. It’s a common tactic in the consumer ecommerce space, and perhaps even more relevant in a B2B market.
A B2B purchase decision is often more complex and takes longer than a consumer decision. There are more variables to consider, more decision-makers and influencers, and more at stake. By retargeting your prospects with banner ads on other relevant websites, you can keep your company, products and services in your prospect’s mind as they continue their research and evaluation process.
As reported by the marketing firm HubSpot, retargeted users are 70 percent more likely to convert. That’s a significant bump in your conversion rate as you are able to capture users who may not have been ready to convert earlier but may be at a later time.
Run-of-site and retargeting banner ads can work hand-in-hand in a campaign that touches multiple phases of a prospect’s purchase funnel. Run-of-site provides initial exposure and offer, while retargeting follows-up and provides reinforcement. Your media partner should be able to advise you on the best mix of run-of-site and retargeting banners that will help you achieve your goals.
Bonus Best Practice: Make Your Landing Page Sing
Maybe not literally sing—unless a song is appropriate to your campaign. The point is that when prospects click on your banner ad, they expect to go to a web page that fulfills your promise. They want to know they’ve landed in the right place. And they want to do what they’ve come to do. Marketers must design landing pages to accommodate these needs. The landing page should visually complement the ad, provide additional necessary information, and make it easy for prospects to accept the offer presented in your call-to-action. Follow these practices and your conversion rates should increase.
Successful Banner Ads on Dentalcompare.com
Many Dentalcompare clients have achieved their campaign goals using banner ads. Our team of experts will work with you to create a campaign that fits your budget and aligns with goals. Contact us at [email protected] to find out how we can help you put your brand and products in front of the optimal online audience.